Blue Self-Portrait

A striking portrait featuring vibrant blue hair and a bold orange background captures the intense gaze of Arnold Schoenberg in this 1910 masterpiece, inviting you to explore this unique piece of modern art history.


arnold schoenberg (1874 - 1951)

Explore Arnold Schoenberg's revolutionary music – atonality, twelve-tone technique & influence on 20th-century composers. Discover his legacy at the Schönberg Center.

Arnold Schönberg Center (Vienna, Austria)

Discover the revolutionary musical archives of the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, where you can explore original scores and a replica of the composer's study to experience the heart of Viennese Modernism.

“I personally believe in l’art pour l’art. In the creation of a work of art, nothing should interfere with the real idea. A work of art must elaborate on its own idea and follow the conditions which this idea establishes. This does not mean that an artist must have principles which he obeys and which he carries out under all circumstances. Such principles would probably be, in general, external and their application would certainly deprive a work of art from its natural conditions. There is perhaps only one principle which every artist should obey, that is: never to bow to the taste of the mediocre, to the taste of minor people who prefer that what an artist never would do.” (Arnold Schönberg, Round-Table on Modern Art, 1949)